


New Mercies in the Morning

by FiveFootFrankie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Circle, Death Eaters, Flyleaf - Freeform, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Post-Hogwarts, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2015-12-10
Packaged: 2018-05-03 13:02:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5291852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiveFootFrankie/pseuds/FiveFootFrankie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco told Harry he loved him, but he didn't believe it.<br/>Now he does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Mercies in the Morning

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a songfic of the song Circle by Flyleaf. It's a great song. You should really listen to it.
> 
> OOCnees. I had started writing this and came up with a better idea, so I entirely rewrote it.
> 
> If you would like to play the music along with the story, start it at "It was over a year after the conversation"
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtzoHHo8f0I

_"No man shows greater love_  
Then when a man  
Lays down his life  
For his beloved "

_~Flyleaf_

 

 

"What are you up to?" Harry growled.

Harry had cornered Draco in an unused hall on the way to Potions class. It was the week before midterms and Draco hadn't pulled anything this year. Hell, he hadn't even _talked_ to Harry, and Harry just knew he was up to something.

Draco merely raised an eyebrow. "Why would you assume I'm up to anything."

"You're always up to something. We've been back to school for months and you haven't pulled anything. You're obviously scheming."

Draco appeared affronted by the mere idea. "I'm not scheming anything, Potter." He moved to walk away, but Harry stopped him with a hand to the chest.

"]You haven't done anything this year. Not even called Ron a Weasel. Something has to be going on!"

Draco looked down at Harry, amused at how off put he was that Draco had been ignoring him. "I'm honestly not planning anything because of my own personal reasons."

"And what would those be?" he asked incredulously.

Draco smirked. "Because I'm in love with you," he answered, completely seriously.

"Wh-what?"

"You heard me. I'm not inclined to repeat myself." Draco shook off Harry's hand and continued walking down the hall. When Harry got his wits back he ran down the hall and stopped Draco again.

"I don't believe you. You're just trying to throw me off your trail."

Draco leaned into Harry's personal space so that Harry could feel the breath on his face. "Frankly Potter, I don't care what you believe, but it's the truth." Before Harry could even blink, Draco leaned in and pecked Harry on the lips, then turned and walked away. By the time Harry had stopped gaping, Draco had disappeared.

Harry still didn't believe that Draco wasn't up to something, and was convinced that was all just part of a plot to embarrass him, so he brushed off the whole encounter.

 

 

 

It was over a year after the conversation at the beginning of fifth year. If anyone asked Harry would've said he didn't remember it, but he couldn't stop thinking of it. It had made him think and Harry came to the conclusion that, he didn't actually hate Draco like he'd thought he did. He realized that him antagonizing Draco had been a mixture of irritation at the blonde and a proverbial boy pulling a girl's pigtails, which eventually evolved into sexual tension. He still thought Draco was lying just to throw him off whatever he'd been planning, and valiantly ignored the voice in his head saying that Draco never actually did anything last school year.

Now the two of them were walking through the Forbidden Forest looking for potions ingredients for Snape. Harry was there for detention and Draco was there as a favor for Snape because "Potter was too incompetent to know a Mandrake root if it killed him".

They had finally gotten far enough into the forest that they had started finding some of the ingredients they were looking for, when they saw smoke and dying embers of a fire in front of them.

The pair drew their wands and cast a _Lumos_. They seemed to have stumbled upon the remnants of a recently abandoned camp site.

Harry quickly sent a Patronus to Dumbledore with their coordinates.

Harry moved to look at the items strewn around when Draco finally spoke. "What are you doing, Potter?" he hissed.

"Looking for clues."

"How you managed to survive to sixteen I will never know; you have absolutely no self preservation. Let's _go_. The teachers are more than capable of dealing with this."

"Maybe it's just the centaurs."

"Are you stupid, Potter? If it was the centaurs- What was that?"Draco's head swiveled to the left, staring into the bushes where he thought he'd heard something.

"I'm not stupid." _Were those eyes?_ "And what about cen-"

"Shut up, Potter." The bush rustled again and this time Harry turned and stared at it too.

After a moment of silence Harry said, "You were right. Let's go."

"Too late," growled a voice from behind them. They whirled around and came face to face with Fenrir Greyback. "If it isn't the hero himself: Harry Potter, and the young Malfoy. Thank you for the lovely present Malfoy." Draco sneered at the larger man and pushed Harry behind himself. "Oh, tsk tsk Mr. Malfoy. And I was going to reward you."

"Like I would want a reward from a creature like you," Draco sneered.

At first it had seemed to Harry like Draco had lead him into a trap, but as soon as he saw Draco facing off the werewolf, he knew that Draco was in just as much danger as he was.

"You're parents will be very unhappy," Greyback growled, grabbing Draco by the neck and tossed him into a tree. Draco collapsed and Greyback turned to Harry. "I came to recruit some students. The Dark Lord will be very pleased when I come back with you."

Harry sent a stunner at Greyback, but he quickly deflected it and pounced on Harry, knocking his wand from his hand. The werewolf smiled cruelly and barred his teeth in Harry's face when a rock flew and hit him in the back head. Fury in his eyes, Greyback turned his head only go get hit in the face with another rock.

"Why, you little mutt!" He was up in a second and shoving Draco against a tree, claws around his throat. Draco scrabbled at his neck, trying to take a breath. Greyback roared in the blond's face, twisting his arm with an inhuman force until it was barley hanging on by the bone.  


"Draco!" Harry yelled, running to Draco's aid as help arrived and sent a _Stupefy_ at the werewolf. "No. No, you can't do this! You can't die!" He ripped off his cloak and used it to try and staunch the flow of blood.

Draco coughed, finally able to breath again, and managed a pained smirk. "Of course I'm not dying, Potter. I'm a Malfoy." There was fighting still going on behind them between Dumbledore, McGonagall and Greyback.

 _If he's making jokes, he must be okay,_ Harry thought. It was too dark for anyone to see how much blood the teenager was really losing. "Why would you do that?" Harry demanded. "You could've died!"

"I told you, Potter. I'm in love with you."

Finally the fighting was over and McGonagall rushed over, levitating Draco onto a conjured stretcher while Dumbledore sent a Patronus to Snape and Madame Pomfrey for emergency assistance. Snape apparated there in a moment and assessed the situation.

"He's lost too much blood to be apparated. Levitate him to the school as quick as you can."

Harry knew what that meant -- if someone had lost too much blood to be apparated, they'd likely lost too much blood to survive.

"No!" he screamed, running towards Draco. He would apparate the boy to the Infirmary himself if he had to. He couldn't lose him. Not when he'd just found out the truth. He _couldn't._

But Snape snagged him around the waist while McGonagall hurried away, the stretcher carrying Draco preceding her. "It's no use, Potter."

"No! We have to get him to the Infirmary! He can't die! Let me go!"

"If you apparate with him he will _definitely_ die. It's no _use_ , Harry." The use of Harry's first name stopped him, and he collapsed into Snape's arms, sobbing.

 

 

It had been almost a week. Harry hadn't left his room since he returned to the dorms covered it Draco's blood. Far too much blood for someone to survive. But he doubted Dumbledore would let him skip classes for much longer. Draco's funeral was in two days and Dumbledore wouldn't even let him go because "it wasn't safe".

As Harry walked into the Great Hall for the first time in a week, silence fell. People from every house looked on with varying degrees of pity and hatred. As he passed the Slytherin table, insults were thrown at him. Ron and Hermione quickly hurried over when Harry stopped and just stood there, listening to them.

"He should've lived instead of you!" someone yelled and Harry broke.

"You think I don't know that?" he demanded. "Here I am alive, and I don't have the _right_. He _gave_ me the right, and it cost him his life!" This silenced the table but it didn't stop the looks. Hermione quickly lead Harry away while Ron shot the students rude looks.

 

 

 

It was three weeks after the funeral. Dumbledore finally deemed it safe enough for Harry to go to Draco's grave, but he had to under his invisibility cloak with Snape apparating. Snape was the only teacher who wouldn't look suspicious visiting, and he needed to make sure it was safe before Harry took off the cloak.

For the last month Snape had actually treated Harry like a person. Today he respectfully stood back, keeping a silent but watchful eye.

He fell to his knees in front of the gravestone.

 

_******Draco Lucius Malfoy** ** ** _

******_June 5 ,1980_  
 _May 28, 1996_  
**

_******We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears  
We must not demean life by standing in awe of death** ** ** _

 

 

He recalled Draco's last words. _"I told you, Potter. I'm in love with you."_

Draco had told him. _Twice_. And Harry wouldn't believe him.

"I believe," Harry sobbed. "I believe you now. But could it ever change this heart?

"Forgive me!" he yelled to the sky. "Forgive me. Relieve me, and please come back to life." He curled u, face to the ground, grabbing clumps of grass in his hand.

"Come back to my life," he whispered.


End file.
